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Focusrite Saffire Firewire Interface

March 6th, 2005 in Main Tags:

Coming in late April is the Saffire audio interface by Focusrite. The firewire device has on-board DSP including compression and equalization. Stay tuned for a full review based on first hand testing.

-paul.

33 Responses to “Focusrite Saffire Firewire Interface”

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1 Matt Mullen Jun 15th, 2005 at 5:18 am

Paul! As soon as you test this thing out let me know. I am really itching to buy it, but I would like to know how it plays out against the PreSonus FireBox and the Digi Mbox. thank you
2 John Heyer Jun 16th, 2005 at 2:29 am

Paul, Same question here Saffire Vs Firebox…I play accoustic instruments only…using an octava 319 mic.
3 Administrator Jun 16th, 2005 at 2:32 am

Sure guys-I am still waiting to hear back from them. I’ll keep you posted. It looks cool-we’ll see.

-paul.
4 Matt Mullen Jun 21st, 2005 at 11:26 pm

sorry I forgot to leave my email.. It’s Ehman7@aol.com Email when you get more infor about the Saffire!

Matt
5 Administrator Jun 21st, 2005 at 11:27 pm

Ok Matt-Cool.

-paul.
6 Andrew mullin Jun 22nd, 2005 at 2:08 pm

I am thinking about buying one of those.Right now its between focusrite sapphire, presonus firepod and digidesign Mbox.Can you let me knowe when you have tested the focusright.
Thx
7 Renan Jun 29th, 2005 at 2:36 pm

so ? anyone tested it yet ? Im going bananas !!! wich one ? does saffire sound as good as the firebox ? better ?

please help…

any one ..

heres my e-mail, please feel free, anyone
bungious@hotmail.com

Thankx
8 tele_player Jul 5th, 2005 at 2:30 am

Nobody’s got it yet, but I don’t expect the difference between Saffire, Firebox and Mbox to be about sound, per se. It’s the features that are cool, if they work. The Firebox is nice, and sounds good. The Mbox isn’t too bad, but definitely suffers from using USB 1.1.

If the Saffire features work correctly, and it operates with low latency, it looks like a winner to me.

The only good thing about Mbox is ProTools, and that’s a mixed blessing.
9 Administrator Jul 5th, 2005 at 2:37 am

Hi,

As I said-I put in a request months ago and I have not heard back from them since.

-paul.
10 Matt Mullen Jul 5th, 2005 at 7:23 pm

To:
Tele_player: or anybody that wants to answer

It seems like we are all excited about the Saffire. Like tele_player said…”If the Saffire features work correctly, and it operates with low latency, it looks like a winner to me”..
The only thing holding me back from buying the saffire when it comes out is the fact that it’s not compatible with Pro Tools. The fact that Pro Tools is Industry standard kinda makes me want to save up and buy the digi 002. I don’t want the Mbox its USB. The features on the Saffire look so cool and it would be perfect for my home demos. Someday I am going to have to learn Pro Tools. So why not just learn it now?? Digi either needs to come out with a better Mbox or make Pro Tools LE compatible with more than just M-audio. Even if they had to charge more for the software if you were buying it buy itself. These are just my thoughts. Does anybody have some advice. Email me or respond.

Matt M
11 chris Jul 6th, 2005 at 2:45 am

People talk about protools this and that but the problem here, is not protools, I use Nuendo and it is so much better than protools. Saffire looks cheap and all in one compact, so it will not be best in market but for a laptop demo maker, I think that it is really good. When or if the driver becomes stable, I would say it would be the best protable gear in the market. If we start talking about sound quality, then we will definantly have to spend 10000.00 and 10000.00 of dollars. So if this is a simple set or a backup emergency machine. I would say saffire would do it all
12 Matt Mullen Jul 7th, 2005 at 2:28 am

Chris,
Thanks for posting! Let me ask you a question. Is the “Average” person going to hear the diffrence in sound quality from the Saffire & a 5K Pro Tools rig on Guitar/Vocals? I hear people saying that “TALENT” is way more important than GEAR & I belive that 100%!! I am just wondering how much better my Songs would sound with say the Saffire running into the APOGEE MINI ME VS. The Saffire by itself? Any recomendations? Here is my set up

POWERBOOK G4 100Gig
Behringer UB2222FX Pro Eurorack 22 Input Mixer with FX
AT 4040 MIC
SM58
KRK V6-monitors
13 chris Jul 8th, 2005 at 6:54 pm

thanks for the reply, let me answer the question. Talent is very important and I totally agree to you, HOWEVER, you have to take it in consideration, if you are gonna play with music for hobby or a living. If you use cheap stuff, your ears will adapt to it, there will be no way for you to mix. The sad part is although you make something good, if you take it to a studio with all the gears, you will be ripped naked. Its amazing what you can here!! the total balance, whats sticking out. how you put the mic, and so on… if it is for fun, i guess it doesnt matter but i think that if you can spell out what is sticking out and bugging the sound, in 3min instead of a month,
for business sake, its good, but I dont deny talent is important,
who knows, whith what you have if you take it to a Label the might sign you,
Goodluck
14 Rick Jul 9th, 2005 at 6:19 pm

I have an Mbox but I am seriously considering the Saffire (especially for only $399)…mainly because of the latency issues I have with the Mbox (with small buffers or lots of tracks) and the ability to record at with higher frequencies…. also the multiple monitor mixes and onboard DSP. If this thing delivers as promised, it will improve my workflow.

BTW, Protools LE is not the tools I use with my MBox. We use Sonar PE, and are quite happy with it. The interface is friendlier and the bundled plug-ins are more versitile. Sonar “feels” more like a Windows program. The integrated MIDI and loop support from the same screen are the key. It seems like with PTLE there was a completely new interface (or rewire) everytime we wanted to do something out of the ordinary recording/playback/simple editing. With Sonar 4’s track freezing, we’re able to archieve the kinds of things that you can only do with PTHD systems at a fraction of the cost.

At the end of the day, I can get more done faster with Sonar than with Protools LE…. and the limiting factor right now if the MBox. It has hindered our workflow for doing overdubs and complex tracking. If that goes away with the Saffire, my Mbox and PTLE will go on Ebay the day I get one.
15 Administrator Jul 9th, 2005 at 6:27 pm

Guy’s,

Even though this discussion has moved away from podcasting-I still find it quite interesting.

Rick–>I’m curious about Sonar. Fill me in on the details. [Mac-Pc?] etc.

As I mentioned I put in my request to Focusrite and it has been a while since I heard from them. I am going to try contacting them this week. It would be great get my hands on one of these…

-paul.
16 Rick Jul 10th, 2005 at 3:23 am

Sonar is PC only (although Apple�s Logic product has many of the same features � MAC Only). Sonar Producer Edition comes with some great plug-ins that rival the high-end Digidesign stuff (for reverb, compression, delays, modulation, mastering, etc). The Freeze Track feature allows you to put a bunch of effects on a bunch of tracks and then “freeze” them to free up the CPU resources the plug-in use�processing & playing back the tracks as if they had no effects on them. A PTLE system does not do this. Digidesign wants you to buy an expensive PTHD system with outboard DSPs to do this (although, no �freezing� has to happen on an HD system�. You just have a bunch of grunt to handle the plug-ins).

In my opinion, simply working in the Sonar environment is more user-friendly than PT…. particularly if you can appreciate good user-interface design. Editing waveforms, midi data, and envelopes are tasks that are �interface� intensive and my preference is Sonar for doing these tasks. Of course, if I had a big automated Digidesign external motorized mixing/control board and all the HD processing power & plug-ins I wanted, I’d be much happier, but also much poorer (like maybe $50,000-$100,000 poorer).

With Sonar and a Saffire, you’d be able record like a PTHD system does at the highest quality bit rates, with decent “clean” pre-amps (albiet 2 tracks at a time)�. The pros use outboard pre-amps anyway� and so can you, with a Saffire � with both analog or digital inputs. The DSPs in the Sappire are nowhere near as good as the ones in a PTHD system, but that’s were a powerful PC comes in. We just recorded an alt-country album (listen the music section of our website � http://www.steedmusic.com). Some songs had 40+ tracks with intense DX and VST effects/synths (perhaps a hundred + streams being �processed� at once�. No guitars where mic�d, amplifiers are all simulated, and all the keyboards are virtual), and because of the freeze track feature, we were able to give the impression we had a roomful of outboard gear, when it was all simply �in the PC.� The ones built into the Saffire are probably good enough for the vocalist to have his voice processed as he records, without taxing the PCs CPU and reducing latency�.I think I read that Focusrite was including the host based plug-in versions of the DSPs as well. My guess is that they are not a good as the ones that come with Sonar PE or Logic.

So this loops around to a soundcard. Sure, PTLE is a good learning tool� and an MBox is a great sounding interface that records at about the quality of a mid-90s digitally recorded CD�.. but once you start recording a serious amount of tracks with lots of effects & try to do overdubs, you�ll run into the limitations of the Mbox. I�m still running into limitation with the latency/buffering issues on the MBox�.particularly when overdubbing. With the Saffire will get you a lot more raw hardware features for less money� although, you�d still have to fork out the cash for a decent DAW software package (unless you want to use the bundled Cubase LE, which does not support freeze track� but may have other features bundled with the Saffire).
17 George Jul 14th, 2005 at 6:16 pm

Hi, Just to say that I believe the first, small batch of Saffire units have now shipped in the UK. A larger quantity is expected towards the end of June. I noticed that various downloads, including a full manual for the Saffire are now available at http://www.focusrite.com/saffire

What I’m trying to figure out, but haven’t yet, is what options are available around the DSP and what is recorded. For example, can you record a guitar while monitoring the signal after effects like the Saffire’s Amp Sim or Compression are applied, but choose to record a dry signal, to allow more flexibility later? I know this will be possible with Reverb, but not sure about the others.

Having got burned on the last external sound card/recording device I got, I’m not going to commit to the saffire until I’ve heard some good solid reviews. If they’re not favourable, I think it’s going to be the Presonus Firebox for me.
18 Matt Mullen Jul 15th, 2005 at 7:37 am

George,

I am in the same boat as you as far as waiting on the saffire. I thought about the Firebox as well, but if the Saffire does not work out…. “LORD LET IT WORK OUT!!” I am going to go with the Motu Traveler. All I hear is good reviews about that thing. Have you emailed Focusrite and asked them about applying more than just reverb to the monitor signal? Although I don’t know why you would want to apply to many effects for just a monitor. I think a work around would be using a XLR splitter and recording one track wet and one dry. but I am 99.9% positive that the mixing software that comes with the Saffire lets you have a dry recording with a wet monitor mix. hmm well take it for whats its worth hope that helps take care

Matt

Also… not that anybody cares, but I have decided on a DAW. And it will be……… da da da da…. DIGITAL PERFORMER 4.6 I never thought I would be a DP guy… But as it turns out its perfect for me. After messing around with Logic Pro, and wanting pro tools but not willing to buy a mbox or digi 002. I am going go to with DP. I did alot of research in every Forum I could find. here is a good one for DP http://www.unicornation.com/

take it for what its worth…
19 chris Jul 17th, 2005 at 7:03 pm

GOT saffire,
Im not sure how good it is, I updated it right away, there is a dongle in the hardware, with 2licenses, so you cant use it on different machines, that sucks, I used it under nuendo, all plugins looks loaded ok,
the mixer view of saffire, looks complicated looks like it will take time to get used too,
MADE IN CHINA, that was sad…. the cables look really cheap, the case of saffire as well, MBOX looks for valuable by looks, Ill get to test it more this week so I will let all of you guys know, I hope it was worth the money, because im really tired of music toys. if it is a toy then price it under 200dollars, and satisfy the market, thats how I feel, Probably many people will feel let down, all the Ads, why? if it is not worth it… I just hope as I test more, I will get good result, Latency is about 10mil sec at the best mode. better the MBOX but compared to digi 001 bad. I guess the bottom line is for a travel lets record gear a B- gear. Well I want to know what others feel…
20 George Jul 17th, 2005 at 8:38 pm

Hi Chris, — Wow — someone’s actually finally got hold of one at last!

Thanks very much for the information, please keep us informed with any more findings. I’m with you regarding ‘music toys’. While the Saffire sounds excellent on paper, I really hope it’s not let down by corners cut in materials/assembly etc. And I’d be interested to hear what you think of the quality of the preamps and the DSP effects it has to offer. I hadn’t heard about the use of the unit as a dongle for licencing, I’d assumed that I’d be able to switch it’s use between my desktop DAW and laptop. In fact I kind of thought that flexibility was part of the design of the Saffire. Thanks again for the info and please keep it coming!
21 Matt Mullen Jul 18th, 2005 at 2:41 am

Chris!
So glad you got it! Although I am bit let down already. But Sound is more important than looks, so if it sounds good then I will be happy. On the other hand. If this thing is a wash then I am going to go with the KORG D32XD DAW. Its all in one. It sounds amazing. Check out the songs on http://www.korgstudios.com/. I really really really want to work with a computer DAW but if its going to cost $5,000.00 to get someting that sounds good then screw it all and I will just go with the KORG. I will build my drum tracks on Garageband for free using DRUMS ON DEMAND and then work with the KORG.. alright.. Now its the waiting game to see if the saffire pans out..

Matt
22 Lars Henning Jul 18th, 2005 at 12:36 pm

“GOT saffire, Im not sure how good it is, I updated it right away, there is a dongle in the hardware, with 2licenses, so you cant use it on different machines, that sucks”

Hi guys. I’ve been following this thread. The statement above is not true. The license files are only for the host powered VST & AU plugins. You can authorise up to 4 different machines.

Lars Henning
Focusrite Audio Engineering
23 Lars Henning Jul 18th, 2005 at 12:40 pm

Also, if you have any other questions, feel free to contact me directly as I’ve been testing the Saffire for weeks.

lars@focusrite.com
24 Nicky Jul 19th, 2005 at 1:44 am

I had a saffire on order, well its been on order for about 8 weeks
and after reading these posts today and one more on another forum which again was sayin how cheap it looked and felt I got a bad feeling and asked for refund from the shop this afternoon. acted a bit hastily I suppose, but I trusted that focusrite would come up with a quality product and thats why I parted with my money before having read a review, but after reading some first impressions I think ill wait to
see how well it sounds before I decide to buy now.
25 Nicky Jul 19th, 2005 at 10:12 pm

I am now considering the Presonus firepod after much deliberation
was gonna go for the motu 828 mk2 at first but heard lots of horror
storys concerning — using it with a PC, and the firepods pre-amps are apparently alot better.

Is anyone using one?
26 Matt Mullen Jul 20th, 2005 at 12:42 am

Check out the MOTU TRAVELER. AND CHECK OUT THIS FORUM IT PROBABLY HAS THE MOST INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET FOR GEAR. ALOT OF GUYS ON THERE WILL BE HONEST!

http://studio-central.com/phpbb/index.php

According to Lars.. DONT LISTEN TO CHRIS HE IS LYING.. So wait untill more reviews come out on the Saffire..
27 Nicky Jul 20th, 2005 at 3:19 am

Cheers Matt, the travelers a bit out of my budget unfortunatly which is �450
max. the shop I had my saffire order with qouted another 3 weeks
before there delivery so whats the score, Lars has any been released
yet ?
28 Lars Henning Jul 20th, 2005 at 10:18 am

Hello Nicky

Please contact me directly if you have questions.

Thanks.
Lars
lars@focusrite.com
29 Nicky Jul 21st, 2005 at 4:03 am

OK …. today I went into town and decided to stick with my original plan
and purchased a saffire,

So… i came home and unpacked it…ok so its made out of plasic big deal
yeah it would have been nice if it had better quality knobs etc.. but it isent
drastic and as for it being made in china if you were to take out everything in your house right now that was made in china it would be pretty bare believe me, just cos its got a sony badge stuck on it etc. doesent mean it was made in america.. besides the mic im running through the saffirre is also made in china so there well suited (SE electronics se2200 and that mic kicks ass in my opinion.)

Got a .dll error message on install and rung focusrite up from the number on the box and was put straight throught to a helpful man called mick who told me what to do. which was ignore it and skip to the next step. so drivers get installed niceley.

when I open up my sequencer host i am prompted
to obtain a license code by sending off a small file by email
to focusrite along with serial number and registration code
did that they emailed me back the small registration file within 5 minutes
which then unlocked the plugins ( I Think).

that was it I was up and running I couldent find a manual anywhere
which was a bit of a shame thought they might be at least a pdf file somewhere but havent found it yet maybe im looking in the wrong place. would have helped to enable you to get familiar with the saffirre control software a litle quicker which is reasonably self explanatory as im sure some have you have probably seen. so i just started playin around pressing buttons etc till I had a grasp of it. I was so tired at this point
(id been up all night) but desperatly wanted to play more with it I dident have any instruments handy barr a cheap toy guitar lol so I strummed a few chords and recorded it tried a bit of vocal too and I have to say I was very impressed I will have a little more of a play about with it and post back a more in depth description of the audio quality and nuances soon.
but for now lets just say it sounded great, I was happy, tweaked with the plug-ins which were equally great, I realise im just being very general
in the description but I only got this thing a few hours ago and need to have a play with it I will post back something with more substance
in a short while. but just thought Id let you know on first impressions
I am very pleased
30 nietzsche Jul 21st, 2005 at 5:34 am

Thanks very much Nicky for your introductory check-in about your experience with the Saffire. I am looking forward to hearing more, and I would bet that there are a TON of others who are looking forward to hearing more as well. Just wanted to let you know it’s appreciated!
31 chris Jul 21st, 2005 at 6:00 pm

im a lyer thanks, at least ive been in this business so I know what I am talking about, plus why should I lie if I want to help people out.

I got it and used it on the day it came out, updated the firmware, but it really sucks. if you the to load the Focusrite plugins that came with the Saffire, it crashes nuendo, pointless to have a dsp chip inside if you cant use it,
Plus the mixer control on the PC sucks as well, hard to use. changing the buffer size and sample rate, you have to open to different exe.
cant put in the the icon bar, bottom of the screen, a lot more work needed to be used.

this is the conclusion I draw,
I used Mbox, Fireface, digi 001 002 etc.
The point is that the interface should be a easy to use and sound good thing, on the Saffire control, it has a good mixer, however hard to use,
why do you have to load 2 different exe to change the sample rate and the buffersize. and you can put it on float put cant really bring it to the top of the screen, while using a DAW,
Maybe it may be good for some users, and good for them, but even for a mobile studio it is not good yet, Im not saying its history. It need alot of update on the firmware, if the software crashes do to loading of a plugin from focusrite, it is the problem of the interface, I can say that becauses i tried loading different plugins on the DAW( I use CUBASE and NUENDO)
the only cause for the crash is the FF plugins, from the interface. Before calling people a lyer try to run real tests, again everybody is free to think,
how ever at this moment in time, it is NOT a reccommended gear YET
32 chris Jul 21st, 2005 at 6:02 pm

also talking about authorization up to for machine is not true, What happens is the if the server hangs, and you dont get through, press the back button on the browser like IE, you already loose one authorization.
So becareful, but it seems like if you made a mistake, you can call Focusrite.
33 George Jul 21st, 2005 at 10:45 pm

Hi Nicky, Just want to echo what nietzsche said - thanks very much for that information.

And please do share any more observations you’ve got on the Saffire - despite what seems to be a lot of anticipation about it, I’ve been struggling for ages to find any concrete information on t’internet (or in print) about it other than the myriad press release copies.

And thanks Chris too - sounds like you’re not best pleased with the Saffire, are you at the point of returning it, or do you think there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel?

Cheers